Classic Béchamel sauce is a must-have recipe in your cooking repertoire. This creamy, velvety sauce, is made from just a few basic ingredients, flour, butter, and milk.

However, don’t be fooled by its simplicity. Mastering Béchamel sauce takes practice and attention to detail. There is a science behind making a classic Bechamel sauce.

In this blog post, we’ll delve into the secrets of this classic French mother sauce. Also, provide you with a fail-proof recipe for creating the perfect Béchamel sauce every time.

Master the Skill of Classic Béchamel Sauce With This Fail-Proof Recipe

While this French sauce seems simple in ingredients, it can be challenging to get the consistency and flavor just right.

But stress not, with this fail-proof recipe, you can create a deliciously creamy and smooth Béchamel sauce every time.

Making classic Béchamel sauce requires less time than sauce Espagnole and Velouté. This is because the roux only needs to be cooked out for about 5 minutes. To remove the raw taste of the flour.

Also, it doesn’t need to be covered with a cartouche and simmered for a period of time. So, this is a great sauce to make when you’re time-poor.

The Ingredients You’ll Need

• 50g (1.76oz) of salted butter – I use salted butter as it enhances the overall flavor.
• 3.5 tablespoons of strong flour.
• 2 cups full cream milk.

The Flavors Of Béchamel Sauce

• 8-10 whole cloves.
• ½ of an onion.
• 1 small bay leaf.
• Quality sea salt.
• Pinch of ground nutmeg (optional).

How to season food is an art that combines creativity, intuition, and a deep understanding of flavors. That transforms ordinary ingredients into extraordinary culinary masterpieces.

Flavoring The Milk

• Step 1 — Pour the milk into a saucepan. Then make a clouté, which is a small onion studded with cloves and a bay leaf. Place this into the saucepan of milk.
  • Bring the milk to a boil and simmer for about 1 minute to infuse the milk with the flavors of the milk.

The smell of milk, cloves, and bay leaf brings back memories of my younger days working in professional kitchens.

Making A Basic Roux

• Step 2 — Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the flour to make a roux. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. All you want to do is cook out the raw flour taste.

• Step 3 — Whisk the milk into the roux, little by little. Keep continuously whisking, until the Béchamel thickens. This will prevent any lumps from forming.
  • Now I add the clouté back into the Béchamel and let it simmer for around 5 minutes. Make sure you stir every couple of minutes to stop the sauce from catching and burning.
  • Remove the clouté and season your classic Béchamel sauce with quality sea salt. I’m using Himalayan pink.

Cooking Is A Science And A Skill

Cooking is a science and a skill that requires a deep understanding of both the technical and creative aspects. Cooking is also a matter of precise measurements and ratios.

For example, baking is particularly sensitive to accurate measurements and temperatures. A slight deviation in the amount of an ingredient or cooking degrees can result in a completely different outcome. So, to help you here is a handy little unit converter tool for cooking without guesswork.

Classic Béchamel Sauce An Essential Sauce for Every Kitchen

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PREP TIME: | 5 minutes mins

COOK TIME: | 10 minutes mins

TOTAL TIME: | 15 minutes mins

SERVINGS: | 4 servings

AUTHOR: | Shannon The Helpful Chef

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DESCRIPTION

DISH SUMMARY

Classic béchamel sauce is a must-have recipe for any home cook or budding chef. We’ll share how to master béchamel sauce.

Equipment

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  Cookware
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  Kitchen Gadgets
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  Kitchen Knives

Ingredients

1x2x3x

METRICUS CUSTOMARY

• ▢ 50 g Butter salted
• ▢ 3.5 tbsp Flour strong or plain
• ▢ 2 cups Milk full cream
• ▢ ½ Onion brown
• ▢ 18-10 Cloves whole
• ▢ 1 Bay leaf fresh or dried
• ▢ ¼ tsp Nutmeg freshly grated (optional)
• ▢ ¼ tsp Salt Himalayan pink or quality sea salt.

Instructions

SHOWHIDE

• Pour The Milk – Into a saucepan. Then make a clouté, which is a small onion studded with cloves and a bay leaf. Place this into the saucepan of milk.

  Bring the milk to a boil and simmer for about 1 minute to infuse the milk with the flavors of the milk.
  
• Melt The Butter – In a saucepan and add the flour to make a roux. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. All you want to do is cook out the raw flour taste.
  
• Whisk The Milk – Into the roux, little by little. Keep continuously whisking, until the Béchamel thickens. This will prevent any lumps from forming.

  Now I add the clouté back into the Béchamel and let it simmer for around 5 minutes. Make sure you stir every couple of minutes to stop the sauce from catching and burning.

  Remove the clouté and season your classic Béchamel sauce with quality sea salt. I’m using Himalayan pink.
  

Chef Tips

• When making the roux all you want to do is cook out the raw flour taste.
• Strain the milk through a fine sieve before adding it to the roux. This will catch any pieces of the cloves that could have flaked off into the milk.
• If you’re going to make the Béchamel sauce in advance and store, to stop skin from forming place plastic wrap on top of the sauce.

Nutrition

Serving>1 serve | Calories>128kcal | Carbohydrates>17g | Protein>4g | Fat>5g | Saturated Fat>3g | Polyunsaturated Fat>0.2g | Monounsaturated Fat>1g | Trans Fat>0.04g | Cholesterol>17mg | Sodium>176mg | Potassium>210mg | Fiber>1g | Sugar>7g | Vitamin A>226IU | Vitamin C>2mg | Calcium>172mg | Iron>1mg

COURSE:

Condiment

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Sauce

CUISINE:

French

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Italian

KEYWORD:

Béchamel Sauce

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Essential

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Versatile

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